Essential Tips for Following a Touring Musician Across Cities
If you’re a super fan of your favorite musical artist or ensemble, it might not be enough for you to wait until that musician or band comes to your city to …
If you’re a super fan of your favorite musical artist or ensemble, it might not be enough for you to wait until that musician or band comes to your city to see them perform. In this case, following the solo artist or musical act from one city to the next may be the most thrilling and enjoyable way to spend your time. While you should manage your expectations for what following a musical act could look like, you should also let yourself have fun with this once-in-a-lifetime experience. After all, not everyone gets to see their favorite artist perform once in their entire lifetime, let alone several times as they go from one city to the next.
Look Your Best
While looks aren’t everything, you’re more likely to get noticed by your favorite star if you stand out from the crowd. One way to stand out is by becoming the most handsome or beautiful version of yourself. This is also a great way to practice some self-care before your big trip across the country or globe. As you prepare to go on tour, you should take care of your cosmetic needs. This includes scheduling any necessary waxing, threading, or cosmetic procedure appointments such as Botox injections or lip fillers.
When you look your best, you’ll feel your best. Outside of looking gorgeous, feeling gorgeous and confident will give you the boost you need to follow your favorite touring musician from one city to the next. As you make a plan for how you want to present yourself to your favorite touring artist, you should think about what has usually made you feel insecure about your appearance. If your crooked teeth have always made you feel self-conscious, you can plan for Invisalign treatment to gently straighten your teeth. If you feel like your lips are too small, it may be time to invest in lip fillers. While you don’t want to be shallow and should remember that inner beauty is the rarest and most wonderful kind, it’s okay to not like certain things about yourself and become motivated to actually do something about them to make them closer to your ideal.
Stay Out of Trouble
The number one rule to following a touring band or touring musician is keeping your nose clean from a legal perspective. While loving a band can make you do things you might not normally do, you still need to abide by the local and federal laws if you don’t want your dreams of following a touring musician to be cut short by a jail stay. If you do end up crossing a line and end up in jail, you’ll want to contact a bail bonds service right away so they can bail you out. Although bail bonds aren’t cheap, they’re necessary if you don’t want to stay in jail.
Try Out Great Food
On a lighter note, you should use your time traveling to take every opportunity you get to try delicious new cuisine. If you’re in an area that’s known for having fantastic Mexican food distributors, try their tacos or chilaquiles or other delicious Mexican dishes. If a venue has food trucks, see how many you can hit up and try before you’re too stuffed to take another bite. Following a touring musician is about more than the music or even the musician. It’s about enjoying every moment and having experiences that you wouldn’t normally have unless you were going on tour with a musical act.
Stick With a Good Crowd
As they say, we are the company we keep. One bad apple spoils the bunch and one bad actor certainly spoils a good crowd. For this reason, you should be mindful of the types of people that you end up spending time with regularly as you’re following a touring musician. Some people are just innocent, lighthearted fans with the same goals and intentions as you. Others may want to get close to the touring musician for the wrong reasons or simply not be stable enough to follow the law as closely as you may like.
While you might think that you’d never end up in legal trouble, the truth is that anyone can experience legal issues if they’re caught doing the wrong thing at the wrong place at the wrong time. If you commit a crime and the guilt overcomes you, you may want to do the right thing and turn yourself in with a confession to law enforcement. While your intentions in that scenario would be good, it’s best to get a criminal defense attorney to help you make decisions that may benefit you and your case as early in the criminal justice process as possible. Delaying obtaining the appropriate kind of legal counsel could also put your case in a position where you might not be able to fight it or get a favorable outcome.
If you do find yourself in legal hot water, you’ll want to get a criminal defense attorney sooner rather than later. According to superlawyers.com, “Whether you’re facing criminal charges, believe you’re about to be charged, or even if you want to confess to a crime, ‘You really can’t get a lawyer too soon,’ says Steven F. Fairlie, a criminal defense lawyer at Fairlie & Lippy in North Wales, Pennsylvania. ‘As soon as there’s an inkling that there might be a criminal investigation filed against you, you want to get a lawyer.'”
The article on superlawyers.com continues to share that “Effective legal counsel can help you navigate every possible outcome when facing criminal charges and possible jail time. Experienced criminal lawyers know the legal system like the back of their hands and can assist you in surmounting a capable defense strategy.”
Maintain Your Vehicle
For long trips like going across the country to follow a touring musician, you’ll want to keep your vehicle in the best condition possible. Part of your budget for your trip should include vehicle maintenance, the cost of a towing service, and gas. While it’s not a glamorous or fun idea, the reality is that your vehicle could break down at any time if you don’t maintain it. What’s more, when you’re on the road for long stretches of time, you will wear your vehicle down more quickly than someone who moderately or rarely uses their vehicle would. If you don’t maintain your vehicle, you may end up having to cut your trip short or replace it with an expensive rental car.
Before you head out on the road, you should complete a vehicle maintenance checklist to ensure that your vehicle is in proper working order. Beyond scheduling regular maintenance and addressing any necessary repairs before you hit the road, you should see if the tires are okay and watch for tire pressure that is too low or high. You should also lend an ear to the brakes and feel for any issues with them. Next, seeing how well the battery is charged is an important step. If your engine oil is running low, now would be a good time to add more to the engine oil and fluids that keep your car running smoothly such as anti-freeze. If the wiper blades or windshield wipers have seen better days, this is an ideal time to replace them.
After all that, you can look for signs of wear and tear on the hoses and belts. Finally, you should prevent overheating by running your AC on a cool setting as you drive through different states. Although this list of maintenance suggestions isn’t exhaustive, it’s a good starting place. For more advanced concerns, you should consult with a mechanic to determine whether your vehicle is safe to drive long distances as you follow a touring musician.
Watch for Road Hazards
Practicing defensive and safe driving is important everywhere, but it’s especially crucial if you’re following a touring musician and driving through many states. Even being mindful of the condition of parking lot paving can save your vehicle the damage that potholes and other risks cause. When you only have one vehicle, you need to take extra care of it so that it will last you for the whole tour. Otherwise, it may break down or wreck and leave you high and dry in an unfamiliar city.
Be Prepared for Emergencies
When you’re taking a long road trip, you can never be too prepared. From looking up the local hospital to seeing what tire shop could provide tires to you in a pinch, there are plenty of things you can do to make the unknown risks a little less scary. Outside of locating local emergency services, you can keep some things in your car that will make you better prepared to tackle an emergency if one arises.
If you don’t know where to start in packing items for emergencies in your car, you could end up packing useless items that won’t do you a lick of good in an emergency. To get started, you can review resources on the topic to give you a general idea of what might be most helpful to bring on your trip. As gerbercollision.com shares, “Make sure it includes a warm blanket, winter socks and gloves, non-perishable food, bottled water, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, and batteries. Don’t forget to pack an ice scraper, compact shovel, snow brush, jumper cables, and warning triangles or emergency flares.” Some of these items may be more suitable for a winter road trip, but they’re still not a bad idea to have in your car all year round so you don’t forget about them when the temperatures drop. It’s better to have items you don’t need in your car than lack the items you do need in a difficult situation.
Be Self Sufficient
If your reason behind following a touring musician is a faint hope that they’ll swoop in and rescue you from responsibilities, you’re in for a rude awakening. The best thing you can do is stay as self-sufficient as possible. Maintain your propane tank during the appropriate time of year, pay your bills, and don’t rely on someone to take care of you. While it’s normal and expected to ask for help, you shouldn’t expect a celebrity or artist that you don’t even know to take care of your responsibilities and provide for your desires in life. That type of unrealistic thinking might be a nice fantasy, but it’s not rooted in reality. You need to stand on your own two feet and enjoy your musical artist for the service that they provide–giving you great music to enjoy.
Keep Your Pets Cared For
Whether your pet is traveling with you or you’re hiring a pet sitter, you should take care of your pets and make them a priority. Visit the animal hospital if your pet is having a health issue that hasn’t been resolved on its own. Additionally, provide food, water, and care instructions to a pet sitter so they know how to care for your pet individually. Leaving behind a shirt or other item that has your scent can be comforting for your pets since they will probably miss you as you follow your favorite band.
Protect Your Ears
Because some touring musician acts are loud, you should take care of your ears. Wear noise-cancelling headphones to lower the volume of loud venues. Additionally, visit a hearing aid clinic if you notice changes to your hearing.
If you love music, travel, and the experience of being around other fans who share the same love of an artist as you do, there’s nothing better than planning a huge road trip that follows your favorite musical artist on tour from one side of the country (or even the world!) to the whole other side of the nation or globe. If you decide to follow through with this trip, you’ll have plenty of stories to tell your friends, kids, grandchildren, and more. You may even become social media famous if you decide to go public with your tour through a blog or YouTube channel. While that outcome isn’t guaranteed, it’s possible that you’ll be able to connect with other fans as they live their dream through you by following your journey on your social media platform of choice.
